http://mmajunkie.comMike Bronzoulis had already taken a rough and often-delayed road to get to his professional mixed-martial-arts debut in October 2007.

He had been through his parents traveling often, so he was forced to often care for himself. He fought to stay out of gangs, using the martial-arts classes in which his father enrolled him at age 8.

He had been though near legal troubles, a string of jobs and car accidents that led to poor prognoses from his doctors.

But his confidence was never shaken, he said, as he continued to believe he was born to be a fighter.

Until he lost his pro debut.

“That messed me up mentally,” Bronzoulis told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) about his first-round submission loss to Matt Rangel at a Renegades Extreme Fighting show nearly four years ago. “I felt like I could beat the guy. I just needed to learn more. I took the guy down, and he armbarred me within a minute. I had never lost a fight in my life. In my whole life.”

The Houston resident has since regrouped and put together a string of wins that has granted him the biggest opportunity of his career. The 170-pounder (12-2-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) takes on Todd Moore (13-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in an HDNet-televised preliminary-card bout at Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum” event.

At American Airlines Center in Dallas, Bronzoulis will continue practicing the sport he feels is his calling. He has trained steadily since age 8, practiced in his backyard against trees when necessary, mimicking martial-arts movies for fun and built himself, finally, a stable career.

With four straight wins, the 32-year-old Bronzoulis moved out of a scheduled third Shark Fights bout to take the Strikeforce debut he hopes will continue his climb in the MMA world.

“I’ve always known there was something different inside of me than most people,” Bronzoulis said. “I felt I could do this better than most people. I’m meaner, I’m tougher, and I’m bred for this. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m not playing with it.”
Pulling himself up

Bronzoulis was born in New York but moved to Houston at a young age. Before long, both of his parents were traveling often for work, which left the young Bronzoulis to care much of the time for himself.

His father had studied martial arts while growing up in Egypt, and the elder Bronzoulis encouraged his son to enter classes at age 8. Bronzoulis immediately loved the training, and he showed aggressiveness perhaps gained from his father’s training that might also have transferred to a brother who joined the Marines.

“I was really small growing up, thin, short, but I had a lot of energy,” he said. “I just had this feeling inside me like I was a warrior. I thought I had a lot to offer the sport.”

Others thought Bronzoulis had a lot to offer as well. While struggling to stay out of gangs in his area, Bronzoulis earned a reputation as a very good fighter, which only encouraged more recruiting. Despite the lack of a stable male presence in his life, Bronzoulis wanted to avoid those groups, and he continued his martial-arts training.

He spent many of his days practicing before school, going to school, going to the gym after school and then replaying martial-arts movies in his backyard. His mother seemed surprised when he begged her to put him on a plane to Thailand so he could train there.

He fell to sleep while thinking about holding a world championship belt above his head in some form of martial arts. Then, almost 14 years ago, he discovered MMA.

His entry into the sport as a fighter, though, was delayed by bumps in his personal life. Most seriously, in 2004, he was hit by a Ford Expedition while walking and suffered a herniated disc in his neck, a concussion, troubles with his back and his kidneys, and issues with his lower body. A doctor told him he might not walk for six months, he remembers.

Asked to discuss the challenge outside of fighting he is most proud of overcoming, Bronzoulis includes it all: “Just making it through life. The obstacles thrown at you sometimes seem like they’re too much. I just keep fighting through them.”
A confident fighter

By 2006, Bronzoulis finally secured his first amateur MMA bout, and he fought two times on the amateur circuit before he committed to becoming a pro.

His first fight shook him like he didn’t think it could. It was over in 78 seconds when he was submitted with an armbar, and his optimism that carried him through his neighborhood, injuries and waiting for an opportunity started to crack.

“I had to force myself to be the best wrestler around, learn how to ground and pound people,” he said. “If they tried to put me in a hold, they would have to pay for it.”

The result was a seven-fight winning streak when his confidence returned and he got back into the cage. Those seven fights came in less than a year, and in April 2008 he took a fight against future WEC/UFC fighter Kamal Shalorus on a week’s notice, preparing himself for the thought of a possible defeat. Working to a draw, his confidence grew, because he felt with more training he could have won.

In rebounding, his next fight against Cleburn Walker came with food poisoning, but Bronzoulis scored a first-round victory. Then, in his most recent fight against Lucas Lopes at a Shark Fights show, Bronzoulis fought with a broken nose after a tough camp that limited his breathing, and he scored a tough unanimous-decision victory.

Set for another Shark Fights matchup, Bronzoulis learned Strikeforce offered him a multi-fight deal, and he jumped to take it.

With his debut in the promotion on Saturday, Bronzoulis hopes to continue showing the passion that has carried him through tough times into a successful MMA career that he feels has far to go.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a boring fight,” Bronzoulis said. “I want to let (Strikeforce) know they made the right decision and show people what I can do.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel is the lead features
writer for MMAjunkie.com. His weekly “Fight Path” column focuses on the
circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter
with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.